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Nursing shoes?

Way back when I first started Tweetchatting and WeNurses someone very lovely shared the Starfish story with me:

Being a nurse on Twitter is much like being a nurse full stop, we spend our lives throwing starfish and “making a difference to that one” however very often we do not know the true impact of our actions and the ripples that we create, we often just hope, that once we have played our part, things are better for the people we care for, in one way or another. Being a nurse on Twitter I often have conversations and chats with many other nurses and healthcare professionals, never knowing if conversations have any impact, but hoping that the ripples created go some way to improving things and making a difference. This week I was “totally floored” (as the kids say) when I finally met a long time Twitter friend and found out how the work that WeNurses does had made a difference to her.

Now there are a few people on Twitter that I feel I have grown up with, they are the people who have been there from the start and have supported and shaped (even though they may not know it) WeNurses into what it is today. They are indeed a very small amount of people, I can count them on one hand, and some I have met and some I have yet to meet. @NursieDeb – Debbie – is one of these people. I remember from the start the amazing energy she had and how her passion for nursing really shone through on Twitter … however as Debbie lives in Scotland and I live in Bristol the chances for us to meet are practically non existent … or so I thought …..

At the weekend my lovely husband and daughter took me to London to go hat shopping, for my forthcoming MBE investiture, we had planned to spend the day in London, see some family and hopefully come away with the all important big hat!!! Whilst walking down Carnaby Street we came across one of my favourite shoe shops “Irregular Choice” – or as my daughter and I like to call it “shoes for princesses” – it was an entirely co-incidental, or so I thought. My husband encouraged me to go inside and try on some shoes! Ok, at this point I have to say I thought my husband was acting a bit weirdly, as he would never normally encourage me to buy shoes, however I brushed it off and made the most of it. My daughter saw a lovely pair of flip flops and asked if she could try them on, so the shop assistant went to get her size and we waited. Another shop assistant then appeared with a shoe box and opened it and started to pull out some very lovely shoes that clearly weren’t flip flops ….. by this point I was feeling a little discombobulated and said to the shop assistant “ errmmm those aren’t flip flops” at which point she looked at me and say “no Teresa they aren’t, they are very special shoes for nurses!!!!” Ok, so now I must have looked absolutely lost and confused because I certainly felt it ……. The shop assistant asked “do you know who I am?“ I kind of did, but the confusion was still rife ….. “I’m Debbie” she said !!!

Oh my goodness !!! It was @NursieDeb – DEBBIE !!! With shoes, for me !!! Of course the shoes were by the by for a moment and Debbie and I had a huge hug and I incoherently started to talk about forgetting tissues and not having waterproof mascara on! Then I noticed there were lots of people in the shop, and someone taking pictures … and remembered the shoes !!!

So heres what had happened (the bit i didn’t know but slowly came out over the next half an hour) – Debbie had written to Irregular Choice asking them if they would make some special nurse shoes for me to go to the palace in for my MBE investiture, and they did …… and here they are:

May I stress that they are nurse shoes and NOT shoes for nursing !!!! ;D

I never knew the impact that WeNurses had had on Debbie but as we talked more, and I tried not to cry a bit more (no waterproof mascara!), it became apparent that some of the ripples I had created had made a difference to one starfish.

Debbie is one of the most amazing people I have ever met and I am truly blessed to know her, she is knowledgeable, passionate, friendly, supportive and most of all she cares – I felt truly humbled that she thinks so much of me to have done this amazing thing, when in actually fact Debbie has also made a huge difference to me. Nursing friendships are one of the most awesome things and although Debbie may feel that I picked her up and threw her back into the sea … I know she has also done the same for me.

So this blog is to really say thank you …. Thank You to my Husband and Daughter who are the most sneaky secret keepers ever, Thank You to Irregular Choice for taking the time to listen to Debbie and to stop and care .. and, of course, for the lovely nurse shoes ….. Thank You to Josh from Irregular Choice for making us feel so welcome …..BUT most of all THANK YOU to Debbie who is more than a starfish she is a SHINING STAR